My head is spinning by the time we reach our nosebleed seats for Iggy and The Stooges at The Orpheum. I can’t remember the last time I had to climb so many stairs in a venue, and I also can’t remember when I’ve had seats this crap for a show. The only things I am sure of is that the workout my butt and thighs are getting, and that when we get to our seats, due to heat rising, it’s going to get seriously hot. Still, when we finally do arrive in Row Y of the balcony, I can’t argue with the spirit of the night. Nearby seats are packed with an array high school-aged punk rock kids, and oddly important looking gray haired men in their early-50’s who you want to ask “Didn’t you used to be somebody?” We’ve not bothered to come early enough to see openers Sistahs in The Pit who have a bad name and who we know we’d have to pay top dollar to drink beers during the set of. By the looks of how many people are seated after we arrive, we’re not the only ones with that idea.
I’m not sure if I’m really old, and thus think that The Stooges sound pretty damn good, or if they actually are pretty damn good, even if I discount the fact that most of them are about 60 now, and thus, the right age to date my Mom. But when the show kicks off with a pair of crunchy, muscled versions of “Loose” and “Down In The Street” from Funhouse the crowd is as happy as they should be. After all, the room is split between those who’ve waited half their lifetime to see a reunion like this, and those who were not even born last time this gang played together in public. Pretty freaky, eh? One of the reasons I’ve wanted to come tonight is the fact that recently I got a copy of the DVD of Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show, which includes amazing footage of a bleeding, kicking, platform shoe wearing Iggy performing “TV Eye.” It’s been 25 years or so since then, but tonight Iggy is no less strange or memorable. He’s shirtless, his drawers are heading south, his hair flounces and floats around his head, his dance moves and stage presence are crazed, bizarre, sexy,… hey, maybe I don’t want this guy messing with my Mom after all. But that said one of the benefits of a band having put out their last record like, 30 years ago is you know most of what they have to play tonight is going to be classics, so indeed we get almost everything we’d like to hear: 1969, 1970, I Wanna Be Your Dog, Dirt, TV Eye, No Fun, and Real Cool Time, along with new songs like My Idea of Fun, Trollin’ and Fried, that are, like, um, OK.
An hour and a half later, the most notably missing track from the evening is Search and Destroy, which collectively the audience figures the band is saving up, but when the band come back for an encore of new songs there is a collective, “Huh?” Descending the stairs toward a chilly Boston night outside, I run into Steve Venable aka Poundy of bands including but not limited to Fudge, Cherry 2000, and Rock City Crimewave, but most importantly local Stooges cover band The Scrooges. “How can they end with a NEW SONG?” he bellowed from beneath his trademark cowboy hat. “Does anyone care about the new record? Come on, show of hands, who cares about the new record?!” (no response) “Now who just wanted to hear Raw Power? Come on, hands!” (one man on stairs raises his hand) “Ah hah! As I suspected! I am not fucking alone!”
Hear the whole show (or reasonable facsimilie thereof) can be heard here courtesy of NPR.
Incidentally, on Amazon you can’t listen to a sample of anti-war single “My Idea of Fun” thanks music retailer from protecting all of us from poisoning our minds with… what you are retailing.
